Kishroniyah Mural 2026
In this short video, our 2026 Kishroniyah mural participants explain the meaning behind all of the imagery in the gorgeous new mural they designed and painted, entirely from scratch, overseen by our incredible specialist Tova Speter.
The creativity of our campers is extraordinary. Take a listen and see for yourselves. The full text is also written below.
Kishroniyah Mural Artist Statement 2026
The theme of camp this summer is G-d. At first, we had some trouble trying to think of ways to represent and incorporate G-d into our mural design. How do you paint something that is so abstract and complex? As we started to brainstorm we started thinking about different places in camp that we feel G-d’s presence and the emotions we feel in those places. Many of us feel that the Chorsha is a very spiritual place in camp because every Friday night the whole camp comes together – singing and playing as we begin Shabbat. Our design therefore centers around Kab Shab when we are all together. We also wanted to represent different levels of spirituality or feeling connected to something greater than ourselves and so we focused on including our community of friends, nature, and references to a higher power showing that G-d is everything and everything is G-d. Our mural therefore is a clash of colors, shapes, emotions, prayers, and little pieces of each of us.
Our mural is framed by a pillar of clouds and a pillar of fire (as described in the Torah – G-d biggest gift to us), representing how our ancestors experienced the leadership and support of G-d during their long journey throughout the desert. Since the pillar of clouds traveled with the people during the day and the pillar of fire was with the people at night, we created a sunrise and sunset on each side respectively. The sunrise and sunset also show when we see moments of awe and wonder at camp and the idea of cycles and full circle moments. The clouds connect with water and the fire connects with roots in the earth, highlighting the four elements and that G-d is a part of it all. In the water on the right we made a heart ripple with the names of the edot on A-side and B-side. On the left we created pinecones from different perspectives, bringing our attention to a small, often overlooked part of our forest. We can find a higher power even in the small pinecone as we learned that a pinecone contains Fibonacci’s sequence in its spirals just like so many other parts of nature and science contain repeating patterns and amazing designs.
In the center of the mural we set the scene of Kabbalat Shabbat with campers with our arms tightly around each other and our voices singing joyfully together. We are all created Btzelem Elohim (in the image of G-d) and contain light that emanates out. Our prayers create a large speech bubble in which most of the mural is contained showing the power and connection radiating off every person that comes together no matter who you are, where you come from, what your story is, and what you have gone through. We can all become one and feel G-d’s presence bind us together. We also talk a lot at camp and have DMCs (deep meaningful conversations) so the speech bubbles represent our communication with each other as well as with G-d.
When we looked into the Gematria for G-d’s name, we found that the sum of all the letters equals 26. We thought this was an amazing coincidence since the year is 2026, and to honor this we painted 26 music notes on the mural. (We also painted 36 trees in the Chorsha for double chai!) The music floats up through the agam where we also see a galaxy/nebula in the night sky with a bolt of lightning. The large vast expanse of the stars in the night sky contrasts with us being in our camp bubble and reflects how G-d is with us in both large and small moments and we are all a part of a larger universe. We have also experienced some lightning protocols this week so the lightning is included to show G-d’s power and essence of light in darkness.
One of our favorite design elements in the mural is how we used the concept of different perspectives of G-d since G-d cannot be visualized in only one certain way. In addition to showing the different perspectives of the pinecones, we also included vibrant colored kaleidoscope-like patterns on either side of the mural. They start with a Jewish star in the center and radiate out refracting the colors in the mural and offering a more abstracted vision of spirituality with different shape formations you may not have seen before.
Other little designs we incorporated include painting two of G-d names in the roots of the trees, our logo as a constellation in the night sky, and a compass directing our prayers eastward and reminding us that G-d is all around us.
We hope this mural connects you to different ideas of G-d and that you can find your own perspective somewhere in our paint strokes and feel connected to the mural and to G-d like all of us do!
Kishroniyah is one of our centerpiece programs for our Tzad Bet (B-Side) chanichim (campers). Kishroniyah comes from the Hebrew word kishron, which means skill. For one week each summer, we invite an array of high-level specialists into camp to run intense special programs for our older campers. Machon and Nivonim have 12 hours of Kishroniyah from Sunday-to-Wednesday, and Magshimim and Bogrim have 8 hours of Kishroniyah from Wednesday-to-Friday.
Tova Speter is a community artist and art therapist based at Gorse Mill Studios in Needham, MA. She facilitates collaborative art experiences that offer opportunities for self expression, artistic exploration, and community connection. Her focus is often on empowering participants to recognize that they are capable of more than they realized, especially when they come together. Tova has been leading the Mural Kishroniyah at Ramah since 2011, guiding the campers through the design and creation of murals that reflect camp themes and Jewish values. Her work has also engaged communities throughout the US and internationally in Argentina, China, Panama, and Israel in the form of over 100 community art projects. With a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling and Art Therapy, Tova has over 25 years of experience working at the intersection of arts and healing; and she has exhibited her artwork in galleries and community settings since 2003. All of her work is based on her belief that engaging in art-making is inherently therapeutic and formative. More at www.tovaspeter.com.